Winning is what counts: Harvey not happy after breaking record

Posted: Friday, December 19, 2008

By MATTHEW CARROLL

Cameron Harvey did all the right things on the floor.

He then said all the right things off it.

Downplaying the importance of his impressive performance, Harvey promptly dismissed his school-record 36 points as nothing special because his Panthers lost a 72-71 heartbreaker to Mt. Edgecumbe in the opening round of the 2008 SoHi Tip-Off Tournament on Thursday.

"It means nothing," the junior said after his friends congratulated him for breaking the mark. "We've just got to win the game.

"Nothing at all," Harvey added when pressed further. "Got to win the game."

It was those comments, more than his sharpshooting, which included five of his team's eight 3-pointers and a total of 15 points in the final five-plus minutes of the first half, that impressed first-year Skyview coach Ray Ortiz.

"That's what I want to hear. ... I'm so glad. It's been a long road with that kid," he said. "I was here last year as an assistant and at times when you got into him, he would get nervous and kind of back down. Now he puts his hand on his chest and says, 'I can do it.' And I'm proud about that."

However, he is not proud of his team's defense, which allowed Mt. Edgecumbe's Scott Alstrom to drive the length of the court for the game-winning basket with four seconds remaining.

"I talked with our guys at halftime, 'Trading baskets is OK in the beginning of the season, but you have to now become a team that locks teams down. You stop them for four possessions and try to get two scores out of that. Now, that's how you win games,'" Ortiz explained. "Skyview's had a history of not putting games away, not competing to win, and so we're trying to teach more than anything ... this is the next step you have to get to.

"We're not concerned with wins or losses right now," he added. "We're concerned with how they're going to compete because the young guys coming up will learn that and that kind of makes a culture of winning and competing."

Trading buckets throughout the final 5:37 of the game, including four of senior point guard Thomas Conley's 12 points, Skyview (0-2) took its first lead since 50-48 when Harvey canned an outside jumper and later grabbed an offensive rebound before putting it in, drawing the foul and sinking the free throw for a 68-66 edge.

As they did most of the game, the Braves quickly responded in tying it up on two of Greg Frisby's team-high 18 points and then retook a two-point lead behind a pair of free throws from Zach Mills, who was 10-of-12 from the line for 16 points.

Mr. Do-It-All was back at it for Skyview, though, as Harvey's steal with 20 seconds remaining led to a free throw from Conley, who then grabbed his own rebound on his missed second shot and fed Chad Oakes for a 71-70 lead with nine seconds to play.

But Alstrom had little resistance in shredding the Panthers' press, driving coast-to-coast for the clinching layup with four seconds to play before Skyview freshman Albert White's 3-pointer at the buzzer clanked off the rim.

"We wanted to stop them on the last play and we couldn't get that last defensive rotation," Harvey said. "Our defense gave up 72 points.

"We're probably all defense next week (in practice)," he added. "We've got to stop them from driving to the rack and help defense better."

After Skyview senior Corey Sterling staked the Panthers to a 3-0 edge just 21 seconds into the game, Harvey took over.

With five points already under his belt and a 10-9 lead, he sparked a 7-0 Panthers' run with a three-point play and another bucket created by his steal off the inbounds pass. Mt. Edgecumbe answered with a 9-0 spurt to begin the second quarter, erasing a 19-17 deficit entering the period by capitalizing on four Skyview turnovers in the first 1:49 of the second in regaining a 26-19 advantage.

Harvey then owned the final 5:06 by delivering a trey to begin the stretch, which included an offensive rebound and putback, another offensive board and a pair of free throws, a long jumper and then two more 3-pointers in the final 1:05, the latter with five ticks left, in sending his team into the break with a stunning 39-35 lead.

"Coach just told me to stop thinking on the court," he reasoned. "Last game I was 2-for-8 and he just told me to stop thinking and just shoot the ball and that's what I did."

Ortiz wasn't the least bit surprised.

"But what made that happen, though, is Thomas Conley, our point guard, getting the ball to him in the right spots and Skyview has never done that before," he said. "These are things that we're teaching them and things that we're going to get better at.

"Everything that he has not done in the past, he is starting to do now," Ortiz added of Harvey. "I pulled him aside and I told him, 'You're very important to this team, but you will sit right next to me and help me coach if you don't do the things you're capable of doing.' And the kids listens.

"He is motivated this year for some reason. A light went on."

It did in the third for the Braves, too, who limited Harvey to just five points, three coming on a trey with 1:23 left, in snagging a 52-50 lead after the frame before eventually holding off the feisty Panthers for the thrilling win.

"He shot the ball really well and I thought we did a real good job of watching him shoot," said Mt. Edgecumbe coach Archie Young. "I didn't think we defended very well, but I thought he did shoot the ball pretty well tonight.

"The guys did a better job of identifying him (in the second half). We talked about that at halftime."

The Panthers, who will take on Nikiski at 3 p.m. today, now know what they need to focus on going forward as well.

"I can give you a list of things and it would take the back page of the Clarion, things we've got to work on," Ortiz said. "The last two-and-a-half weeks in practice I have not let up on these kids and they've absorbed a lot and there's a lot more coming.

"I think in the latter part of the season, you're going to see these kids competing at a different level."

Cook Inlet Academy 64, Houston 58, OT

The Eagles outscored the Hawks, 9-3, in overtime in capturing a first-round win in the SoHi Tip-Off Tournament on Thursday at Soldotna High School.

Trailing by 10 after three quarters, Houston dropped 22 points on CIA in the fourth and limited the Eagles to 12 in sending the game to the extra session.

But Eric Bell canned a 3-pointer, Ryan Doyle added three points and Shane Moffis chipped in two in overtime in helping CIA survive the Hawks' late comeback attempt.

Garyn Munn netted a team-high 14 points, Scott Litchfield and Moffis added 13 and Bell and Doyle each scored eight for the Eagles, who led 14-8 after eight minutes and 28-23 at halftime and will now play Soldotna at 8:15 p.m. today.